Age Makes the Difference in Sticking With HIV Meds

Researchers assessed more than 1,400 patients ages 12 to 24 with HIV who were referred to a nationwide treatment network.

Of those, 75% were enrolled in care, with 34% remaining in care and beginning antiretroviral treatment. Twelve percent achieved viral suppression after a median of nearly five months. (Median means half took less time, half took longer.)

That rate of viral suppression is much lower than the range of 32% to 63% found among adults older than 24, despite similar rates of care in both age groups, according to the authors of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study.

The findings were recently published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

The results suggest that after young people enroll in an HIV treatment program, only a low percentage stick with it.

“Our findings indicate an urgency for research on how best to tailor HIV intervention services to the needs of youth,” study first author Dr. Bill Kapogiannis said in an NIH news release. He’s a researcher in the Maternal and Pediatric Infectious Diseases Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.